I realized that, in yesterday’s post, I sounded like I could do push-ups and pull-ups with the greatest of ease. That couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’ve been following this blog, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I have no upper body strength. And I mean ZERO.

I’m so weak that when I was getting back on the boat at Oslob, I had to use the boatman’s shoulders for a ladder, which means that, for a while there, I was drowning the poor man underwater. (I always forget this when jumping off boats – that I can’t get back on, unless the boat has a ladder. And I don’t mean a man submerged underwater holding on to the side of the boat. But it’s not as if I’d let my inability to carry my own bodyweight keep me from jumping off a boat when there are magnificent things lurking underneath? I just have to deal with the embarrassment of having to be hauled back in later.)

While I was doing diamond push-ups yesterday, someone admonished, “Get your form right or don’t do it all!”

I beg to disagree. As someone who almost never gets it right (and possibly never will), all I can do is try. And keep on trying.

My friends like to joke that I have a lechon roasted (the equivalent to having a fattened calf slaughtered) whenever I score a 40 at bowling. While I don’t think that I’m that bad a bowler (surely I’ve gotten up to 60), I’ll continue to play, no matter how badly, as long as I’m having fun. Besides, I love lechon.

Har! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

So, no, I can’t do a proper push-up (- I still do it on bent knees), and I sure as hell can’t do a pull-up (someone either spots me or I use a chair). So far that my chest and back muscles are burning today and I can barely lift my arms, I must have done something right.